Chopped fiber material, such as chopped carbon fiber chips, is used in the build-up of manufactured items according to some additive manufacturing processes. Such processes can result in undesirable porosity, making an item unusable. Off specification porosity typically cannot be determined until the final item is made, cured, and tested, e.g., by using computer tomography (“CT”) to image the internal structure of the item. This can result in lost time, money, and materials, particularly if the problem is due to a manufacturing process that is not corrected until after additional faulty items have already been produced.